RE: Pictures of your coupon folder or binder

Here's what I made....got tired of carrying around that huge binder so I made my own small one! Until I can find the inserts that I want (baseball card holders with only 4 pockets and will fit in a small 3 ring binder) I made mine out of Mead Composition Notebooks (the plastic ones) using the little books you can find at walmart with only 4 pockets per page - we tore apart a bunch of those books and tied it in to the comp. book with ribbon and then I covered the binding with pretty ribbon!

Anyways...here they are - I love birds, so I used bird stickers to mark the front and I'm using a 31 lunch bag to carry them! I made 2 - one for food and the other for H&B items!

Still a work in progress. At least I have made some progress. I have two binders. The large one I have not added to yet. I am working on the zippered binder. I have a black accordion file I carry in the store for now. I kinda intuitively let my mind separate my categories and will clean it up some with more holders and labels.

This is my before mess. I have empty cigarette tube boxes holding q's, receipts, things to be filed. One for IP's One for Current, One for Scenarios. It was a mess. A trash bucket with scrap paper. Two ECOM envies and a cell phone box holding my rr's and cats.

Here is my zippered binder now after some work tonight. Still a work in progress, as I said.

I use a baby wipes box with different colored envelopes as dividers. Then little coupons like peelies can go in the envelope so they don't get lost. I don't clip every coupon so this works well for me. I can just add an envelope if I need a new category. I have an envelope in the front for the coupons I'm using that trip and store specific envies for stores like Target. It's nice too because it fits the long coupons/checks without having to be folded. I keep scissors and a pen up front too.
Occasionally, a cashier will try to have me buy it though. Lol. Then I open it up and show them there are no baby wipes inside.

Last edited by lilonemeg; 01-19-2013 at 12:18 PM.

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RE: Pictures of your coupon folder or binder

I use a baby wipes box with different colored envelopes as dividers. Then little coupons like peelies can go in the envelope so they don't get lost. I don't clip every coupon so this works well for me. I can just add an envelope if I need a new category. I have an envelope in the front for the coupons I'm using that trip and store specific envies for stores like Target. It's nice too because it fits the long coupons/checks without having to be folded. I keep scissors and a pen up front too.
Occasionally, a cashier will try to have me buy it though. Lol. Then I open it up and show them there are no baby wipes inside.

RE: Pictures of your coupon folder or binder

I used to have two binders, but I realized that it was waaaay too time consuming. Now I use the 12 pocket accordion folders ($1 spot at target!). I use the check sized ones an have one for HBA, cold food, dry food/drinks, household, and store-specific. I can carry them all in my purse so it's not super obvious. I use the regular sized folders to keep all of my inserts that I have already clipped, categorized by date, just in case a good deal comes up and I need coupons that I hadn't already clipped.

I love doing it this way because it saves so much more time compared to the binder!

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RE: Pictures of your coupon folder or binder

I have a binder witch is falling apart and need new deviders. its organize but not as perfect as I want it. that is my birthday or mother day gift is new binder and deviders.

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Here's what I made....got tired of carrying around that huge binder so I made my own small one! Until I can find the inserts that I want (baseball card holders with only 4 pockets and will fit in a small 3 ring binder) I made mine out of Mead Composition Notebooks (the plastic ones) using the little books you can find at walmart with only 4 pockets per page - we tore apart a bunch of those books and tied it in to the comp. book with ribbon and then I covered the binding with pretty ribbon!

Anyways...here they are - I love birds, so I used bird stickers to mark the front and I'm using a 31 lunch bag to carry them! I made 2 - one for food and the other for H&B items!

Lol!! I use a large binder, but I also carry mine in a 31 bag. I think it's the Cindy, in black

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Couponwren I love love your bird binder that you made, I wish you could post a tutorial on how you did it. I love how it looks and it seems like it is easy to organize, plus you personalized it. Did it cost alot to make?

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RE: Pictures of your coupon folder or binder

ahh to be so organized! I'm embarrassed to say a lot of my coupons are stuffed in my PTA bag. I swap with a few of the moms in my district and this is always where they end up. Any Suggestions on where to purchase an easy to put together binder? Thank you

RE: Pictures of your coupon folder or binder

I finely bought better deviders so Ill be able to be extra organize that I really want and need to be. yay =)

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RE: Pictures of your coupon folder or binder

Couponwren I love love your bird binder that you made, I wish you could post a tutorial on how you did it. I love how it looks and it seems like it is easy to organize, plus you personalized it. Did it cost alot to make?

Actually, it was quite a bit of money to make....but it was split between my mom and I.....but after it was all said and done....I would do it again...I love my little books....so much easier to carry around and deal with in the store, personally!

These are at Walmart for $2.48 and there are 14 pages in them...and seriously, my mom and I bought about 20 of these....and I'll tell you why!
When you get this book, we tore out the pages away from the book - so you are left with just the pages connected by 'glue' or whatever is holding it together....we cut them in half (directly down that binding so both sides are left with some of the binding to hold the pages together!) This is why it is a good idea to split this with someone! Half of the book - the pages face one way and the other half, the pages face the opposite way! I took all of the pages facing front and mom took the ones facing backwards!

I then lined up the pages in the composition book, cut off the top part so the book wasn't too big and made it more custom.....and then lined up the ends of the pages and poked a hole in the binding of the composition book - then threaded a ribbon in the holes and through half of the page/book and tied it tight...and did that for the remaining 'books' and when it was done, I put ribbon on the outside (the wired sided kind) to cover the ugly black binding and the ribbon I just threaded! And then made categories and used page flags (the hard ones, not the flimsy ones!) and voila....it was done! I did expand to 2 books....only because my one book was getting way big and I love it even more split up!

If you have questions, let me know....I will gladly help you! I'm not the greatest at explaining things!!

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RE: Pictures of your coupon folder or binder

I use a binder and am really happy with it.
It is time consuming to maintain, but soooo easy to use if I find a good deal at the store. I just work on it while I'm watching TV.
I have a dual binder - have food on one side and everything else on the other.

I keep my binder in a large beach bag I got for $5 from Target. I don't take the binder out of the bag when I'm in the store. I keep it in the bag with the spine down. I file coupons sideways whenever possible so I can flip through them while the binder is still in my bag.

I have broad categories labeled on tab dividers. I have sub categories where needed. I typed up a small label (using a large font) for the subcategories and keep it in one of the slots. Each subcategory gets its own page.
I use 8 to a page business card sheets and 4 to a page photo sheets for large coupons.
The 8 to a page are much studier than baseball card pages. 8 to a page means less folding - coupons got much better in the slots.

Example -I have a tab divider labeled "makeup".
Under makeup I have 3 subcategories - any kind of makeup, lips & eyes, & face. (Pic of lips & eyes subcategory attached). You can see the 3 rings at the bottom of the pic and how the coupons are filed so that they are right side up when the binder is in the bag. image-3669976369.jpg

I also try to plan out my trips and I have a small coupon holder with tabs for each store. I put coupons I hope to use for a specific trip into the small coupon holder. I always bring my large binder with me when shopping but I just have it with me in case I find something on clearance.

I keep a large envelope in my coupon binder for expired coupons and coupons to donate to Coups for Troops. When I clean out my binder, (which I do at lunch at work sometimes) I put them in the envelope until I can transfer them to a box I keep at home. When the box is full, I mail it to coups for troops.

RE: Pictures of your coupon folder or binder

This is my box....I have tried the binder method but it wasn't for me. Tried keeping my inserts intact...not my thing either, I like having all my coupons with me.

Thanks for the picture. It just proves the best way to store coupons is whatever works best for you. It appears your categories are alphabetical. Are those smaller tabs I'm seeing? Are they subcategories?

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RE: Pictures of your coupon folder or binder

Thanks for the picture. It just proves the best way to store coupons is whatever works best for you. It appears your categories are alphabetical. Are those smaller tabs I'm seeing? Are they subcategories?

My catergories are alphabetical and the little tabs match the big ones. When I went to the bigger, deeper box I extended my tabs. I always used a rubbermade shoebox type box. HTH

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RE: Pictures of your coupon folder or binder

Wow I'm impressed with the different storage methods. I'm pretty new to couponing (beyond the casual use of one or two occasionally) and, so far, I'm doing the binder method. My DH had an old CD binder that had two large rings in it that he donated to the cause.

RE: Pictures of your coupon folder or binder

When I first got serious about couponing I went and invested in the baseball card sheets, binder, tabs, etc. I kept up with it for a while but now all of my inserts just sit in stacks in my computer armoire. Not organized at all. I try to cut IP's as I print them, I have envies in my purse for specific stores CVS, Target, etc and an envie for cut coupons that are left after I've cut other q's I needed. SO UNORGANIZED LOL! One of these days I'll go back to cutting my coupons, I really loved having all of them ready to grab and great for unexpected clearance finds. It was worth the time it took but I just haven't taken the time to do it much lately.